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Monday, March 07, 2016

Yellowjackets Celebrate 35 Years with Cohearence - Album Serves as Debut for Virtuoso Australian Bassist Dane Alderson

An outgrowth
of L.A. Express guitarist Robben Ford's band founded in 1977, the Yellowjackets
came to full buzzing flight four years later with its debut eponymous jazz-funk
album, a salient introduction to a new-styled electric fusion of jazz and
R&B--a modern take on Weather Report, if you will--for the post Return to
Forever/Headhunters decade. The band was an immediate and controversial hit at
the time when the jazz pendulum was beginning to swing back in the acoustic
direction.

Some
skeptics didn't give the Yellowjackets a chance to survive, but here it is 35
years later--hardly trailing the segmented 40-year longevity of MJQ--and the
group stretches its impressive longevity by continuing to evolve artistically
with its third Mack Avenue Records recording, Cohearence. With two founding
members--pianist/keyboardist Russell Ferrante and drummer Will Kennedy--and its
longtime reeds player Bob Mintzer (a Jacket since 1990) and a brand-new
virtuoso electric bassist, Australia-born Dane Alderson, the Yellowjackets
cover a range of jazz flavors, including a rousing Weather Report jazz fusion
vibe, a swinging switch-up on John Coltrane's "Giant Steps," a moving
rendition of a folk song classic, a funky soul-jazz excursion and a chamber
jazz-like grace in the album end-song, "Cohearence."

With its
pockets of halcyon, buoyance, mystery, tumult and whimsy, Cohearence plays out
as a multifaceted documentation of how far the once fusion band has come.

"There's
a lot of gratitude," Ferrante says of the band's 35th birthday. "It's
never been a given to us that we'd continue to be able to have the opportunity
to write and record for that length of time. But you couldn't have that in
place unless you had a band of generous, giving musicians, none of whom have ever
been ego'ed out."

Based on the
music of Cohearence, there's a wealth of variety. There's no sameness in
hearing range. "We write music that reflects what fascinates us; music
that's worth exploring," says Ferrante, who contributes five of the
album's ten songs. "I compose to work though ideas and workshop a piece,
bring it into the laboratory to work on the compositional elements and make the
piece a vehicle for improvisation."

Mintzer
composed three of the tunes and Kennedy one. Once an initial set list was
conceived, the Jackets road-tested the music for five months, including dates
in London in the late spring/early summer of 2015. "We spent a lot more
time with the music than we usually do before we record," Ferrante says.
"We rehearsed the songs by playing them live, so that when we went into
the studio we weren't just playing our first impressions of the music. Then, we
recorded totally live in less than two days."

Opening the
album is one of Ferrante's songs, the catchy and upbeat "Golden
State" about the Interstate 5 north-south freeway that runs though
California, that has a bustling harmonic connect of piano and sax, and a
relentless left-hand piano triplet rhythm. "I wanted to capture the energy
and activity of the I-5," he says. This is followed by Mintzer's charged
"Guarded Optimism" that is not only vibrant but also has a touch of
dark mystery to it. "It's a fast piece with a syncopated melody that
reminds me of Weather Report," Ferrante says. "For my piano solo, I
used it as a challenge to see if I could keep my bass motif going with my left
hand while independently playing with my right."

Ferrante's
gentle "Anticipation" with folk-like influences starts slowly then
builds in anticipation thanks to Alderson's bass solo and Kennedy's drum roll.
It's followed by Mintzer's 6/8-grooved, synth-flavored "Inevitable
Outcome," featuring the composer's EWI's tonal colors. "'Trane
Changing' is a re-harmonization of 'Giant Steps' that Felix Pastorius had started
during his time in the group," Ferrante says. "I was intrigued with
the tune and helped to solidify the arrangement and the countermelody, which
gave Bob a great opportunity to play bass clarinet counterpoint."

The playful
part of the album starts with Ferrante's funky "Eddie's In The
House," his tip-of-the-hat to the late saxophonist Eddie Harris who first
turned him on to jazz through his collaboration with pianist Les McCann on
their Swiss Movement album. That's followed by Kennedy's "Fran's
Scene," a play on his wife's name (Francyne) that he masterminded,
including the synth orchestration; while Mintzer's skipping, carefree
"Child's Play" is a simple melody that has a depth to it with the
band members' support.

A highlight
is the Yellowjackets' lyrical, tenor sax-led cover of the traditional American
folk song "Shenandoah." "That was Bob's idea," says
Ferrante. "He heard it in the last episode of that TV series The Newsroom
and wanted to write a rearrangement for us to play."

Ferrante's
"Coherence" ends the album with a chamber jazz feel of intertwining
parts and the piano playing counterpoint to the melody. "It does have a
classical music feeling with the fixed rhythm underneath," says Ferrante.
"Again this piece also connects to folk music. It's a challenging piece to
play and was one of the more difficult pieces to record. But we pulled it
off."

Speaking of
"Cohearence" the song, why is the album title Cohearence? Ferrante
laughs and says it's pun, with the word "hear" emphasized. But, if
there is a theme at work on the recording, it is that sense of coherence.

When the
Jackets were playing in London, Ferrante and Mintzer went to the Tate Modern
where they were struck by the six-frame cycle of abstract paintings by Gerhard
Richter, Cage-Six Paintings. "I decided to read further about it,"
says Ferrante. "I was impressed by the fact that they were inspired by the
music of John Cage and then I read that the paintings were described as a coherent
group. So I started looking into that word."

What
Ferrante found was that the synonyms for coherent included balance, harmony,
symmetry and unity. Given the music they were playing for the new album and the
camaraderie of the band members, he had a profound realization that the triumph
of Cohearence reveals the true nature of the group. "It means we're all
connected to what we're doing as a band," he says. "We're making
harmonious statements."